


Whipping Boy

by perfect_cadence (Perfect_Cadence)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Corporal Punishment, Ignis gets beaten, Noct wants to make things right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-03 09:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12745665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perfect_Cadence/pseuds/perfect_cadence
Summary: Fill for this prompt: "One of Noct's caretakers catches Noctis in some sort of infraction, and is afraid to punish him due to thinking she's not allowed to strike the Prince. So she punishes Ignis in his place...severely. Noctis feels horrible and guilty and thinks he deserves to be punished too. He's heard stories of soldiers training their bodies and minds through self flagellation, and thinks that should work just fine.. So poor smol!Noct takes a belt to his own back."





	1. Chapter 1

Noctis knew when he had been caught trying to sneak out of the Citadel for fourth time that month that he would be in a fair amount of trouble. He was newly-eight and resolutely testing his boundaries, feeling himself far too grown up to be treated like an infant and watched every hour of the day.

He had expected a stern ticking off from Madame Livilla, the usual no sweets for a week and to be sent to bed immediately after dinner. But that was not what happened. Instead, he and Ignis were summoned to Madame Livilla’s office after lunch and told to sit down in front of her desk.

Madame Livilla was his head governess; the one who called the shots. Though he, and Ignis for that matter, had individual tutors for numerous things, she was the one who ran the prince’s life on a daily basis with all the warmth of a glacier. 

Noctis had never liked her. She was a cold-eyed, emotionless statue of a woman who seemed to wear a perpetual frown. Noctis certainly never recalled seeing her smile, even when he’d been very small and the junior nannies would play games with him. His dislike was heightened by the fact she was always the one who meted out punishment when he got caught breaking the rules. He was sick of writing lines, being scolded and of standing in the corner!

“I was informed by one of the Crownsguard,” she began icily. “That you were caught trying to sneak out of the Citadel after bedtime yet again, your Highness. This, despite the fact you have been punished three times for the same offence this month already. Was I misinformed?”

“No, ma’am,” answered Noctis sullenly.

“As I thought,” she pursed her lips disapprovingly. “As such, I can only conclude that since you are so very determined to continue to break the rules, the methods of punishment I have been using are not acting as a useful deterrent. I shall have to try another way to get through to you then. Tell me, Highness, have you ever heard of the term ‘whipping boy’?

Noctis felt Ignis go rigid at his side and when he looked around at his friend, he saw that Ignis had gone deathly pale. This could not be good. “No, ma’am,” he answered warily, mouth suddenly dry.

“Generally I would suggest that a boy who so routinely flouts the rules, as you do, deserves a sound spanking,” said Madame Livilla, still in the same cold, flat tone. “However, it is of course not permitted for anyone to strike a member of the royal family, particularly not someone in their service. It was common practice in royal households in days gone by to punish one of the prince or princess’s friends in their place in the hope that consideration for that friend would incline them to be more obedient. We shall see if that approach puts you in a more compliant frame of mind. Come here please, Ignis, and bend over the desk.”

As Ignis stood, white faced and frightened, Madame Livilla withdrew a thick leather belt from one of her desk drawers.

Noct felt abject panic seize him as he finally made sense of what was happening. “No!” he shrieked desperately, leaping to his feet before Ignis reached the desk. “You can’t punish Ignis! He didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who snuck out. Punish me instead!” Inside, his stomach began to do somersaults. He’d only ever been spanked once in his life before, by his father, and he had not used anything but his own hand. That belt looked as thick as his arm!

“Sit down at once, your Highness!” scolded Madame Livilla sharply, cold bony hands guiding a trembling Ignis to lean over the desk. “As you aware, you will be King someday and so your choices and decisions will affect every person in the kingdom. It is high time for you to learn that your actions have consequences. You will pay attention to Ignis’s punishment and consider that this might have been avoided had you behaved as a prince should!”

“Please!” Noctis was sobbing now, still on his feet, clutching at the governess’s arm as though he could pull her away. “Please don’t punish Iggy! It’s ok if you do it to me instead, I’ll tell my dad I said you could. Just please don’t hurt Iggy. He didn’t do anything wrong, he’s _good_!”

“I told you to _sit down_!” Madame Livilla snapped. “I had planned on giving Ignis twelve strokes but if you do not seat yourself at once your Highness, I will be forced to double it!”

“Please Noct!” Ignis’s pleading voice and wide, terrified eyes made Noctis wilt. Reluctantly, he took his seat again, heart clenching as he realised how badly Ignis was trembling, his face hidden in his folded arms.

Madame Livilla picked up the belt and doubled it over, moving to stand behind Ignis. She met Noctis’s gaze and held it coldly. “I want you to count every stroke,” she told him firmly. “And remember that it is through your disobedience that he is here.”

She raised the belt and brought it down with considerable force onto Ignis’s bottom. A loud crack, as jarring as a gunshot, echoed through the room and made Noctis jump violently in his seat. Ignis gave a pained, tearful yelp on impact. A second blow fell, a third and then a forth. By the fifth, Ignis was sobbing with abandon and Noctis was doing likewise.

“Please don’t punish him anymore!” he begged desperately. “It’s all my fault! Please stop! Please!” 

But his pleas fell on deaf ears and he was forced to endure Ignis’s agonised wails as the belt crashed down on him again and again. By the time Madame Livilla reached number twelve, the ten year old’s legs were barely holding him up. Sagged over the governess’s desk, he sobbed brokenly into his folded arms. 

Noctis was beyond speech now, so frenzied were his sobs. Watching Ignis be hurt was by far and away the worst thing he had ever endured. He would have rather taken all twelve blows – or even double that! – on his own backside. Never in all of his young life had he hated anyone with the vehemence he hated Madame Livilla in that moment.

“You may get up now, Ignis,” she said calmly, as though she hadn’t just viciously thrashed him for no other reason than he was Noctis's closest friend. 

Shakily, Ignis stood. His eyes were red and swollen, his cheeks flushed and tear-stained. Noctis had never seen him so upset before and leapt to his feet, meaning to throw his arms around Ignis’s neck and apologise until he had no breath left.

“Sit down, your Highness!” the governess barked. 

“Can’t…I…hug…him?” Noctis sobbed out jerkily. “Pleeeease? _M’sorry, Iggy!_ ”

“You will remain where you are!” Madame Livilla responded. “Ignis, return to your room at once please.” Still weeping, Ignis limped stiffly out of the room. “Now, your Highness, you will sit at this desk and write me an essay on why obedience is necessary for a Prince of the realm.”

With a shaking hand, Noctis was forced to comply, crying his eyes out all the while. The finished article was so tear-splattered that he wondered how she could even read it. 

All the while as he wrote, Noctis’s stomach tied itself into knot after knot. Because of his bad behaviour, Ignis had been beaten and all Noctis had had to do was write an essay. Ignis had been hurt – likely badly bruised – yet Noctis was untouched because he was a prince. It wasn’t _fair_!

Would Iggy hate him? Would he never want to be his friend again if it meant he could be thrashed every time Noctis screwed up or misbehaved?

Noctis knew his conscience would not rest until he had been punished too with the same severity. But he also knew that Madame Livilla would not beat him as she had beaten Ignis because his father was the king – and he was too afraid to even try to argue with her in case she brought Ignis back down from his room to beat him again! And it was not like he could to interrupt his father and the council and demand a spanking to make him feel better!

Once Madame Livilla finally dismissed him, one of Noctis’s recent history lessons sprang to mind as he fled the room. In the olden days, some soldiers used to beat themselves in order to toughen their bodies. If he could find a sturdy belt, he could flog himself so that he had shared Iggy’s punishment. And he could show his friend the bruises to testify that he had never wanted Ignis to suffer on his behalf.

Where was he to get a big belt like that though? He was too little to wear one and Iggy wore those elastic things that buttoned onto his pants and went over his shoulders…whatever they were called. Gladio didn’t wear one, nor did any of his tutors. In fact, no one he knew seemed to wear a belt on a regular basis.

…Wait a minute!

Uncle Cor _always_ wore a sword belt! He was never without his katana. Surely there had to be one spare in his office!

Tearfully determined to do the right thing, Noctis headed off for the Crownsguard offices.


	2. Chapter 2

When he gets to Uncle Cor's office, which is thankfully empty, Noctis sets about hunting for a belt. He knows what he is doing is wrong - he shouldn't be in here without permission, never mind rummaging through Cor's cupboards and cabinets but he figures he can add it to his tally of things to atone for. That way, if his uncle gets cross, he can show him the bruises and ensure no one has any reason to punish poor Iggy again. 

The first few cabinets yield poor results, but when Noctis opens the drawers of the marshal's sword cabinet - something he knows he is definitely not allowed to do - he finds not just one belt, but _three_.

He chooses the thickest one, the one he's seen Uncle Cor wear for ceremonial occasions. It's embossed with silver designs and has a heavy, gleaming silver buckle. Noctis feels himself quake at the thought of how much it will hurt, but he knows he must proceed.

His implement of punishment selected, the next thought is how his plan is to be accomplished. Madame Livilla had made Ignis bend over and had whipped him on his bottom, but Noctis doesn't think he can realistically reach his own bum. He's going to have to improvise a little...

If he kneels down though, he could definitely reach his back, and that's the next best thing, he supposes. Shakily, he kneels down in the centre of the office, with enough space around him that he won't cause any accidental damage to Uncle Cor's furniture. 

His eyes swim with tears of apprehension, but he is a prince and he won't be dishonourable or cowardly enough to back out now. Iggy had had to bear this even though he hadn't been naughty at all. It's only fair that Noctis now suffers the same since he was the one who'd been disobedient in the first place. 

He looks again at the heavy silver buckle. This end will definitely hurt more, so this is the end he must use. Trembling, he wraps half of the long belt around his little hand. He swallows the sob threatening to escape him and swings the belt back over his shoulder. 

Sharp, brutal pain courses through him as the buckle connects with his spine and he shrieks in agony despite his determination to be brave. It hurt so much and he still has eleven more to go... Drawing in great shuddering gasps of breath he swings the belt again. Once again, agony erupts when the buckle hits his spine. 

Crying in earnest now, he doesn't know if he can swing the belt again and his own cowardice makes him feel sick and ashamed. He wants his Dad, he wants Ignis...but he doesn't want them to know that he's too much of a lowly coward not to take the same punishment as his poor friend. Choking on his own hiccups, he forces himself to swing the belt again and screams in agony as it hits home. 

Suddenly, the door bursts sharply open and Noctis practically jumps out of his skin. Through his tears, he can make out the blurry shape of Uncle Cor in the doorway, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Noctis! What in the seven hells are you doing?" The Marshal cries in urgent alarm, instantly dropping to the floor beside him and snatching the belt from his hands. It's thrown across the room, taking with it Noctis's chance for redemption. Cor brushes his hair out of his eyes and his tone gentles. "Astrals, kiddo, what were you trying to do?"

With a shrieking wail, Noctis throws himself into the arms of his honorary uncle and cries and cries. Cor catches him easily, a large, gentle hand coming up to cradle his head and the other arm wrapped around his lower back where it won't cause him pain. Sitting down on the floor, he settles Noctis easily on his lap.

Struggling for breath against the tumult of sobs threatening to burst his chest, Noct chokes out the whole story; how he'd disobeyed his governess for the fourth time, how she'd told him he needed to learn that his actions had consequences for others, how she'd thrashed Iggy with a belt until he was sobbing and then sent him to bed and how, when she'd dismissed Noctis she'd told him he was not allowed to go near Ignis's room. He explains that he was trying to be brave and take the same punishment himself.

Uncle Cor says a really, _really_ bad word! 

"I'm... sorry!" Noctis wails again. 

"No, no, kiddo," Cor soothes him at once, pressing a kiss to his hair. "I'm not angry at you. Madame Livilla is the one I'm angry at. She'd no right to do that to either of you."

"But I was _bad_!" Noctis sobs into his shirt. 

"You shouldn't have been breaking the rules, that was bad behaviour," Cor concedes, rocking him gently. "And we'll have a chat about that later. But that does not warrant thrashing Ignis, or you for that matter. I've disobeyed your Dad and Uncle Clarus dozens of times, have you ever seen them beat me like that?"

Noctis shakes his head, pressing his face into Cor's throat, arms tight around his uncle's neck.

"And Shiva, Noct, you could have fractured your back with that buckle!" Cor continues. "You never, ever do that again, do you understand me?" 

He waits until Noctis hiccups his assent before standing with the young boy in his arms, supporting him without touching his tender back.

"Right, kiddo, lets go see Ignis," he tells Noctis gently.

Fear lances through Noctis like an electrical current. "She said I wasn't allowed!" He sobs, frightened. He doesn't want to be in any more trouble! 

"If Madame Livilla has anything to say, she can take it up with me!" says Uncle Cor in his growliest voice. "I'm taking you to see Ignis whether she likes it or not!"

He leaves his office with Noctis snug in his arms. Ordinarily he would have protested being carried; he was eight years old and a big boy now! But after the day he has had, he just holds onto Cor with all his strength and soaks up the comfort of his embrace. Uncle Cor's arms were the safest place in Insomnia, apart from his dad's, and with his hand carding gently through Noctis's hair, the little prince allows himself to believe that things might work out ok after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Noctis was still sniffling into Cor’s shoulder when the Marshal arrived outside Ignis’s room, which was just along the corridor from Noctis’s own. Still holding him securely with one arm, Cor raised the other to knock gently on the door.

Noctis really liked that about Uncle Cor. Most grown-ups just walked right in whenever they needed to talk to him or Ignis. Cor didn’t – he respected their space like they were actual grown-ups and always waited for permission.

A tremulous “come in” sounded from the other side of the door and Cor carried Noctis inside, where the sight of Ignis lying face down on his bed sent the prince into peals of fresh sobs. He’d never seen the older boy look so upset; Ignis’s eyes were swollen and red with crying, though he hurriedly scrubbed his arm across them at the sight of Noctis and Cor.

Cor sat down on the edge of the bed and Noctis threw himself out of the Marshal’s lap to throw his arms around Ignis’s neck desperately.

“I’m…sorry…Iggy!” he choked out miserably. “I’m really… really s-sorry! I didn’t…want her…to hurt you! Please… _please_ don’t ha-hate me!”

Ignis sat up, whimpering pitifully when his bottom made contact with the bed. He hurriedly scrambled up onto his knees and then hugged Noctis back gently, just the same as he always did.

“I’ll never hate you, Noct,” he promised tremulously. “I swear.”

“I tried to punish myself,” Noct assured him through his sobs, clutching at him tightly. “I promise, I did…but…”

“Noctis thought it would be a good idea to try and flog himself using one of my sword belts,” Cor explained quietly, reaching over to push the Prince’s floppy fringe from his eyes. “More specifically the buckle end. Thankfully I found him before he could do too much damage, but I think you’ve given yourself some pretty bad bruising, kiddo.”

“Noct, you shouldn’t have done that!” Now it was Ignis’s turn to dissolve into sobs, genuinely distressed at the thought of Noctis suffering for him. “It’s my job to look after you, you’re the prince! You shouldn’t hurt yourself!”

“But it wasn’t _fair_!”

“C’mere, you two,” Cor said gently and gathered them both into a hug. Two sets of arms found their way around his neck and he let both boys cry out their pain and distress.

“Right, I’m going to go and get you a potion to help you both, ok?” he promised, once they eventually quietened. “And then I’m going to go see your Dad, Noct. Ignis, I know it’s embarrassing, kiddo, but I need you to let me see how badly you’re bruised.”

Blushing, Ignis turned away from them and slid his trousers down to reveal vicious looking red, blue and purple welts covering his buttocks; evidence that the beating had been a severe one. Noctis promptly burst into tears again, began a new litany of apologies and threw himself at Ignis the moment he was decent again.

“You two lie down for a while,” said Cor, who looked angrier than either of the children had ever seen him. “I’ll get you something for the pain and I’ll be back soon, ok?”

“What if Madame Livilla comes in and sees Noctis here?” Ignis asked fearfully. “She’ll be cross…”

“If that harridan shows her face,” Cor said grimly. “You tell her to take it up with me!” He spread a blanket over the two of them, tucked them up and quietly slipped out of the room.

Noctis immediately snuggled up against Ignis, just like he did whenever he had nightmares, and felt the older boy wrap an arm around him in turn. “You really don’t hate me? You promise?”

“I promise,” Ignis gave him a tired, red-eyed smile. “Nothing could ever make me hate you. I’d rather she hit me than you Noct, I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you either!” Noctis said fiercely. “And anyone who does, I’m gonna put them in jail when I’m king!”

Ignis just laughed quietly and they snuggled up devotedly together in silence.

*

They must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing Noctis was aware of was Uncle Cor’s voice saying a lot of really bad words and ending with: “Fucking vicious bitch!”

“ _Cor_!” scolded the voice of Uncle Clarus. Noctis sleepily wondered if Cor was too big to have his mouth washed out; he was much younger than his Dad or Uncle Clarus! Then suddenly, awareness crept back upon him and he opened his eyes.

It wasn’t just Clarus and Cor who were in the room, Noctis’s father was also there…which meant he must know by now that Noctis had been breaking the rules. What if his Dad and Clarus thought Madame Livilla had the right idea and wanted to punish Ignis too?

“It was all my fault!” he burst out hurriedly, scrambling off the bed to dash over to his father. “I’m sorry I was bad! You can punish me however you want! But you can’t hurt Iggy! He didn’t do anything wrong!”

Regis reached out gently and tugged Noctis onto his lap. Noctis tensed a second, wondering if he was about to be turned across it to get the spanking he knew he deserved, but his father only hugged him. “Settle down, my son,” he said gently. “No one is going to be hurting Ignis.”

“Definitely not!” Clarus agreed, looking over to where Ignis was stirring sleepily on the bed. “That boy is almost unnaturally well behaved; I’ve never met a kid who deserved punishment less!”

As Noctis began to ramble about what happened, Regis held up a hand to stem the flow of words. “Cor told us what happened,” he explained to his son and a now-awake Ignis. “Needless to say I’m not pleased to discover you were flouting your governess’s instructions so blatantly, Noctis; that was very wrong indeed. However, that in no way gave Madame Livilla the right to act as she did. There is a reason such traditions belong in the past. I can promise you, Ignis, that you will never again be punished in Noctis’s place. And as for you, Noctis, you must promise me never to try and harm yourself in that manner again. If you feel something isn’t fair, you come talk to me – or Clarus or Cor if I’m not here. You never try to harm yourself like that. Do you understand?” Noctis nodded and allowed himself to be wrapped again in his father’s arms.

Both boys were given a curative potion to get rid of the pain and were able to enjoy the comfort of the three adults for some time until Regis and Clarus eventually had to depart. They were going, they said, to speak with Madame Livilla.

“You can stay here!” Clarus told Cor firmly, when the younger man rose to leave with them. “Covering up the extra judicial murder of one of the domestic staff by the head of the Crownsguard is not a task I want to have to face today!”

* 

It transpired that Madame Livilla was dismissed from her position and was asked to leave the Citadel, though not before Noctis had the chance to release a cluster of live rats into her bedroom.

He would take the secret that it was Uncle Cor’s idea, and that it was Cor who helped him carry out the prank, to his grave!


End file.
